TEMPLE CITY – All season long, Temple City High School has not been able to defend long plays. This time, it was Monrovia getting the best of the Rams.

De’Shawn Ramirez ran for 136 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a 38-21 Rio Hondo League victory Friday night.

Ramirez, a standout freshman, scored on a 73-yard pass from Monrovia (7-0, 2-0) quarterback Nick Bueno and also had touchdown runs of 68 and 44 yards.

It took longer than expected, but the Wildcats shook off a sluggish start before taking a comfortable 19-7 lead with 3:40 left in the second quarter.

Temple City (3-3-1, 1-1) got off to a good start when Max Ruckle capped a four-play, 55-yard drive with a 46-yard touchdown run to give the Rams a 7-0 lead with 7:43 left in the first quarter.

It took all of 13 seconds before Monrovia got on the board when Bueno connected with Ramirez, but the Rams still led after Temple City’s John Mendez blocked the extra point.

Ruckle, the San Gabriel Valley’s leading rusher heading into the game, was held to 80 yards on 14 carries, and that was the plan.

“Absolutely,” Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox said. “He’s one of the better players in the Valley. We were talking about him the whole week, and we were going to make (Temple City quarterback Justin Smith) beat us.”

Smith completed 12 of 26 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions.

Temple City was flagged for questionable first-half penalties that fueled Monrovia’s drives.

Bueno scored on a 1-yard run with 5:17 left in the second quarter. That 17-play, 93-yard drive was aided by a pass interference call that moved the ball from the Wildcats’ 43 to the Temple City 28.

Craig Brown later returned a 37-yard fumble to give Monrovia a 19-7 lead. That fumble came after Smith threw a pass to Andrew Torres, who had the ball bounce off his chest and onto the ground before Brown picked it up. The whistle never blew, much to the chagrin of Temple City coach Anthony White.